How Lucy Became the Power behind Starfleet

My Name is Khan - Pop quiz. What do Lucille Ball, an ex-cop and a certain pointy-eared, green skinned alien have in common? Believe it or not, the cop and the Vulcan both worked for the redheaded comic icon during the early days of “Star Trek.”

Film My Name is Khan - Writer/producer Gene Roddenberry’s military drama, “The Lieutenant,” caught the attention of senior executives at Desilu Productions, the production company owned by

Lucille Ball. By the early 1960’s, Desilu was one of the most successful production companies in television and looking to expand and Gene Roddenberry was one of the writer/producers recruited by the studio.

Because Desilu had a first look deal with CBS, they originally took “Star Trek” there, only to be told that the network had already bought a science fiction show from producer Irwin Allen and just wanted ideas for what would become “Lost in Space.” Shortly thereafter, they successfully sold NBC on shooting a pilot.

Gene Roddenberry was an idealist in many ways and wanted “Star Trek” to reflect his own ideas of equality and social justice, making it the first network series to feature people of multiple nationalities, races and even species working together in that first pilot, “The Cage.” But apparently he crossed the line when he cast a woman, actress Majel Barrett, as the ship’s second in command.

NBC liked the concept, but hated the pilot, ordering a second one and in the process demoting Ms. Barrett from Executive Officer to nurse. But she ultimately married the boss and became the only actor to have been in every “Star Trek” series (She’s the voice of the ship’s computer on all the Trek series and had a recurring role in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”). As for that second pilot, it sold the series to NBC and began what would become one of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.

Your Guide To Buying A Guitar

Choosing a new guitar, regardless of your ability or experience, is never an easy task. You must always consider the type of sound you wish to create, your maximum budget and the style of music you're learning to play.

The three most common types of guitar are categorized by the material their strings are made from and their status as electric or acoustic. Therefore, you may either want a Nylon-stringed acoustic, a Steel-stringed acoustic or a Steel-stringed electric. Each of these is distinctly different and will be better suited you different styles.

Nylon-stringed acoustic guitars tend to be the cheapest variety and are the easiest to learn on because of the extra space between strings and their relative kindness to fingertips. Typically, they are used either as beginner instruments or for travel purposes where there is a risk a more expensive instrument may be damaged.

Steel-stringed acoustic guitars are similar in construction to their Nylon-stringed counterparts, but are generally used by more serious or professional players because of their usefulness in building playing-endurance and finger strength. These instruments are of a mid-range price and are also available in electro-acoustic varieties.

Steel-stringed electric guitars are distinctive because of the presence of a pickup (which turns vibrations in the strings into electrical signals to be emitted by an amplifier) and the absence of a hole in the body (which the pickup renders obsolete). Electrical guitars are the most versatile types and thus, the most expensive. Whilst you may pick up a budget electric guitar fairly cheap, this is useless without the concurrent purchase of an amplifier, which again varies in quality and price.

When buying a guitar, it is always best to have an impartial, experienced player with you in the store. If this is not possible, research the meanings of build-quality, neck-relief and intonation with reference to guitars and be sure to look out for each.

Sell Your Car Online

Auto classifieds websites are some of the most powerful tools available today to help you sell your car or truck. In step 3 of this series, titled "Sell Your Car Online: Step 3, Using the Right Information to Help Sell Your Automobile", you learned what information you should display about your automobile in your classified ad.

The fourth step in placing an ad is writing a compelling description of your automobile. Most auto classified web sites have an information field labeled "Description" in which you can type a lengthy discourse about the car or truck you have for sale. You may think that this is not needed since you already have all the important information listed in the previous info fields. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

So, what do you type in the description field? First you should quickly restate the most important information, like the make, model, and year. Then list again a few of the best accessories and options that have the most appeal. Next comes the fun part.

You should write a descriptive paragraph that includes information about your vehicle that has not been previously listed. If your car or truck has a special feature, describe it. If it has a new component, like a new engine or transmission, list it. If the vehicle has a special quality that is not noticeable in any of the photos, write about it.

For example, if your vehicle is a classic sports car that has a specialty racing engine, list the specific engine enhancements. If the vehicle is a show truck with a high end sound system, describe how the radio sounds. If the vehicle is an expensive luxury car, describe how comfortable the driver's seat feels.

The objective of the description field is to paint a clear and unique picture of your car or truck that puts the buyer in the driver's seat. The buyer should feel, hear, and see everything that sets this vehicle apart from the rest. After reading your description, the buyer should not have any doubt that this is the right vehicle for him/her to purchase.

This is a great example of a properly written description:

"This 1996 Pontiac Firebird Formula is in great condition. It has alloy wheels, AC, power everything, and a 6-disc changer. The T-tops are a nice addition, especially in hot weather. Even though this Firebird is 10 years old, it looks like it belongs on the showroom floor. It has flawless red paint on the exterior and a super clean black interior. A brand new automatic transmission was installed only 12 months ago, which is still under warranty.

The best feature about this 1996 Pontiac Firebird Formula is the engine. It has a 5.7 Liter HO V8 that has been well maintained. It does 0-60 in a respectable 5.2 seconds and has a top speed just under 160 MPH. Accelerate and you can hear every one of the 305 horses coming through the exhaust. Any sports car enthusiast would enjoy getting behind the wheel of this one.

Don't miss this 1996 Pontiac Firebird Formula. It's a good deal on a great car. Call today."

Notice how the description flows. It's not just a simple list, but it is written in a conversational style with wording that plays on the emotions of the buyer. It is concluded with a call-to-action, "Call today."

Don't worry about the length of the description. Whether it is short or long is secondary to how enticing it is to the potential buyer. If the description is interesting enough to keep his/her attention, it could be 6 paragraphs and still be effective.

Remember this from step 3! There's no such thing as listing too much information about your vehicle, so type away and tell as much about your car as possible. The worst thing that can happen is that the potential buyer will spend more time viewing your listing and not viewing someone else's listing.

If done correctly, writing a powerful description of your automobile can transform the viewer of your classified ad from a browser to a buyer. Look for the final installment in this series titled "Sell Your Car Online: Step 5, Making Search Engines Love Your Classified Ad." Happy selling.

Write Baby Poems Like a Pro

Puisi Valentine Day - Cute and sentimental baby shower poems are great addition to any baby shower. You can type these baby poems in the Shower invitations and thank you cards in a variety of different styles, layouts, fonts and lengths. These poems are also unforgettable touch to write on the baby shower cakes, attach to party favors, or print off scrolls for the guests.

Where can you find some very special baby shower poems?

Puisi Valentine - Internet is a good starting point. And you can always find many creative poem ideas from parenting books, magazines, and lyrics. But if you’re not running everything in hurry, then write a baby poem on your own.

You might have questions like this: “Do I need special techniques even a little talent to write great baby poems? Does it take weeks even months to learn the writing skills?”

Hey, I've never been and I'll never be a person who can write poetry like Shakespeare - same as most of you. But you're writing a poem for the baby, don't overcomplicate it!

Even baby poem is "an elevated composition in verse"(The Concise Oxford Dictionary), no worries - just write about what comes to your mind, and unleash your creativities to organize your thoughts and feelings about the arrival little one.

Don't try to be a poet and stay away with those fancy language and obscure words. Simply put any baby items and baby related topics together. Then use the words that can express your expectations and wishes for the little one and the parents-to-be.

Need a bit more tips? Ok, the answers to the questions below will become a wonderful baby shower poem by themselves.

* What is Mom's name * What is Dad's name * What does a baby like to eat or drink * What does a baby like to have for the new life * What do you hope the baby to learn from your life experiences * What's your baby shower theme * Any special gift is highly expected? * It's a twin or triplet * It's a boy or girl

List your answers on a paper and discover the things that affect you, use them to write short sentences with a sense of humor.

Another save-time idea is to learn good baby poems from online poem site and re-write them.

Once you find the baby poem that you like, re-write it, keeping the basic meaning of the words the same, but using your own voice. And replace some of its sentences by your own words (like a special wishing or a unique baby gift's name) if you want.

Don't be afraid to experiment. Once you've got a baby shower poem on paper, speak it aloud and find out the best rhyme you like.

Ask for suggestions from the couple's family member and the people who have had children. They can help you to find some great ideas to create a more family-like and baby-like mood in your baby shower poems.

BlackBerry apps

Blackberry Gemini - Dropbox has become a very popular service over the past few months due to its simple idea which leads to a thousand uses. If you haven’t used it before it is a cloud-based storage service that allows you to keep files on multiple machines with automatic syncing between each. Save something into your Dropbox folder on a PC and when you switch on your laptop it will be available. A free account gives you 2GB of storage and then you can pay for 50GB or 100GB options.

At the end of September last year Dropbox became even more useful with the introduction of an iPhone app. This allowed access to all the files in your Dropbox account, but also meant any images and video taken on your iPhone could be uploaded and automatically become accessible on your PC/Mac/laptop. Now it looks as though mobile functionality is being expanded to Android and BlackBerry.

A recent promotional e-mail sent out to Dropbox users highlighting the Dropbox for iPhone app contained the following sentence:

Do you own a Blackberry or Android phone? Don’t worry! We’ve got plenty more mobile magic coming soon!

If that wasn’t evidence enough that new Dropbox mobile apps are in the works a blog post from the Dropbox team confirms it. Each team member gave their resolutions for 2010 with employee Will stating:

I resolve to release some crazy new features for the iPhone app, and to begin poking my head around some other undisclosed projects.. coughANDROIDAPPcough

There’s also a vacancy for an Android Developer listed on the Dropbox jobs page.

Keep an eye on the Dropbox Blog for more information.

Matthew’s Opinion

Of all the cloud storage options available I use Dropbox the most mainly due to the flexibility it offers. A lot of services require you to be connected to the web in order to access your files, but Dropbox downloads a local copy so if your connection goes down you still have access and can update them on whichever machine is being worked on. Then when a connection is re-established an update is performed in the background.

Adding iPhone support last year meant it was much easier to access files anywhere. The ability to instantly make images and video available on a home PC or laptop for editing pushed the popularity of the service through the roof. The Dropbox team even won the Best Internet App of 2009 award.

With the popularity of Android growing fast among handset manufacturers it was inevitable Dropbox would need to add support. It’s also nice to see BlackBerry being considered. With the Symbian OS going open source I bet Nokia handsets are in line to get Dropbox at some point in the not too distant future too.